Doctors and scientists have completed their first hip surgery with a 3D printed implant and bone stem cell graft. The 3D printed hip, made from titanium, was designed using the patient's CT scan and CAD CAM (computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing) technology, meaning it was designed to the patient's exact specifications and measurements. The implant will provide a new socket for the ball of the femur bone to enter. Behind the implant and between the pelvis, doctors have inserted a graft containing bone stem cells.

Scientists have made a step forward in developing a new class of materials that could be used in future technologies. They have discovered a new quantum effect that enables electrons -- the negative-charge-carrying particles that make today's electronic devices possible -- to dash through the interior of these materials with very little resistance.

Poor-quality sleep during the third trimester of pregnancy can increase the odds of weight gain and metabolic abnormalities in offspring once they reach adulthood. The effects, caused by epigenetic modifications, impose lasting consequences on the next generation. The researchers linked the excess weight and changes in metabolism to epigenetic modifications that reduce expression of the gene for adiponectin -- a hormone that helps regulate several metabolic processes, including glucose regulation. Lower levels of adiponectin correlate with increased body fat and reduced activity.

Today, we can measure the position of an object with unprecedented accuracy, but the uncertainty principle places fundamental limits on our ability to measure. Noise that results from of the quantum nature of the fields used to make measurements imposes what is called the 'standard quantum limit.' This background noise keeps us from knowing an object's exact location, but a recent study provides a solution for rerouting some of that noise away from the measurement.

Men who are infertile because of defects in their semen appear to be at increased risk of dying sooner than men with normal semen, according to a study. Men with two or more abnormalities in their semen were more than twice as likely to die over a roughly eight-year period as men who had normal semen, the study found.

People with severe injuries to their spinal cord currently have little or no prospect of recovery and remain confined to their wheelchairs. Now, all that could change with a new treatment that stimulates the spinal cord using electric impulses. The hope is that the technique will help paraplegic patients learn to walk again.

Industry claims about e-cigarette devices are unsupported by evidence, including claims that e-cigarettes help smokers quit, concludes a major scientific review of research. The devices, which are rapidly gaining a foothold particularly among youth, are marketed as a healthier alternative to tobacco smoking, an effective tool to stop smoking, and as a way to circumvent smoke-free laws by allowing users to "smoke anywhere." Often the ads stress that e-cigarettes produce only "harmless water vapor." But scientists found that e-cigarette use is associated with significantly lower odds of quitting cigarettes. They also found that e-cigarette emissions "are not merely 'harmless water vapor,' as is frequently claimed, and can be a source of indoor air pollution."